You may have already heard about CISPA, the cybersecurity bill moving quickly through the House that would let companies like Google, Facebook, and AT&T snoop on our communications and hand sensitive user data to the government without a court order. Promoted under the guise of protecting America from cybersecurity attacks, the truth is that this legislation would carve out shockingly large exceptions to the bedrock privacy rights of Internet users.
That’s why EFF is joining a coalition of other organizations in speaking out against this cyber spying bill – and we’re calling on the Internet community to join us.
The goal of Stop Cyber Spying Week is simple: get Congress to back off of any cybersnooping legislation that sacrifices the civil liberties of Internet users. Here’s what you can do to help:
1. Join the Twitter campaign – because Congress is vacuuming up Too Much Information. We’re engaging in a revolutionary kind of Twitter activism. Use our new Congressional Twitter handle detection tool to find your member of Congress on Twitter. Then write them tweets about the kind of things you do online that are none of the government business. Show your congressperson the many things you do online – the personal, the mundane, whatever – so they can see just how much personal, unnecessary data could be vacuumed up as a result of the legislation’s dangerously vague language. Use the hashtags #CongressTMI and #CISPA.
Sample tweet:
.@NancyPelosi Does the military really need to know I signed up for Google+ when it first came out, but haven’t posted since? #CongressTMI Stop #CISPA https://eff.org/r.1X2
2. Send an email to Congress. We need to make it clear to Congress that they can’t push legislation that undermines all existing privacy laws. Use EFF’s action center to email your Congressional representatives to tell them to oppose CISPA.
3. Publish a statement opposing CISPA. Post an update to your blog or social networking site telling folks to join you in opposing any cybersecurity legislation that sacrifices civil liberties.
Sample statement:
Congress is currently considering CISPA – the Cyber Intelligence Sharing & Protection Act – a bill that purports to protect the United States from “cyber threats” but would in fact create a gaping loophole in all existing privacy laws. If CISPA passes, companies could vacuum up huge swaths of data on everyday Internet users and share it with the government without a court order. I oppose CISPA, and I’m calling on Congress to reject any legislation that:
* Uses dangerously vague language to define the breadth of data that can be shared with the government.
* Hands the reins of America’s cybersecurity defenses to the NSA, an agency with no transparency and little accountability.
* Allows data shared with the government to be used for purposes unrelated to cybersecurity.
Join me in opposing this bill by posting this statement on your own page and using this online form to send a letter to Congress against CISPA:
https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8444
4. Make your opposition to CISPA heard. Write op-eds, blog articles, status updates or Tweets. Tell the world why you are opposing CISPA and why Internet users need to be able to read and communicate in private. And keep an eye on the EFF Deeplinks blog –we’ll take a closer look at the grave civil liberties implications of this bill, from its lack of public accountability to why cybersecurity and national security should be kept separate.
What are you doing to oppose CISPA? Tell EFF! Email action@eff.org with a description and any relevant links. Also check out our new FAQ about the bill.
